Simple Butternut Squash Soup

When I was a typical kid, I was a finicky eater especially when it came to vegetables. As far as I can remember the only veggies I ate were peas, carrots, mushrooms, cauliflower and potatoes. Tiny onion pieces in meat dishes were painstakingly picked out and decorated the side of my plate meal after meal. My parents tried their best to ply me with all sorts but to no avail. Popeye could keep his spinach and the whole other lot too.

Strangely, once I listened to my father’s pleading to try some butternut. He mentioned it was sweet. Immediately my ears perked up. Sweet, you say? One mouthful of the stuff and I was sold forever. The South African way of preparing it is with generous lashings of butter, a tonne of sugar, a bit of salt and if you’re lucky some ground cinnamon. It all will be mashed to create a smooth, irresistibly sweet pile of goodness, more fit for a dessert than a side dish.

Shortly afterwards we went on holiday to Cape Town. For the first time ever I saw butternut soup on the menu. Living a bit more on the wild side than before I ordered it and have been hooked ever since. Now it’s your turn. 😉

Update

Astonishingly, month after month, year after year this recipe has been consistently viewed more times than any other recipe on this site. The sad part was the original image, which has now been removed. Surely, the photo and recipe needed some sprucing up, and here it is – enjoy!

2 Ways to Cook Butternut

Boiling: Peel the butternut, remove the seeds and chop it in chunks. Just follow the recipe as stated below.

Roasting: This is my preferred method of cooking pumpkins. Halve the butternut, drizzle some oil on it, add some garlic and herbs, e.g. rosemary, if you fancy them, and place the dish in a 180°C(fan 160°C/355°F/gas 4) preheated oven. Roast for 45-50 minutes, or until the squash is tender and has turned golden-brown in places. The butternut’s flavour intensifies in the cooking process and becomes even sweeter. Peeling the skin off the flesh is now much easier too. After softening the onions in the pot, add the cooked butternut to it and don’t forget to add the roasted garlic too! Boil for only 10 minutes, then blend. Voila!

Simple Butternut Squash Soup & Special Diets

Weight Watchers or other Low-Fat Diets: [Option 1] Leave out the butter and use low fat cooking spray to fry the onions with which would turn this dish into 0 ProPoints! [Option 2] Omit frying the onions separately and boil them with the butternut instead.

Baby Food: Leave out the garlic, stock and salt. Use water to boil the vegetables instead.

Don’t Have Enough Butternut?

Use other root vegetables, e.g. carrots and parsnips, to make up for the weight specified in the recipe. This easy solution will introduce new, interesting flavours to the soup!

How To Jazz Up Your Simple Butternut Soup

Chances are you will like this soup so much that you’ll make it again and again. Why not play with one variation or another each time? Here are a few ideas:

Nutmeg

Cinnamon

Chili

Rosemary

Rind of ½ a lemon

Fresh ginger

Fresh sage

Paprika

Curry paste

Sherry: Add the sherry after frying the onions and before you add the butternut and stock.

Coconut Milk: Add a bit less stock to the vegetables and add some coconut milk to them, then boil.

What To Add When Your Simple Butternut Squash Soup Is Ready

Spring Onions

Parsley

Cilantro/Coriander leaves

Chives

Cream

Greek Yogurt

Bacon

Blue Cheese

Goat’s Cheese

Wine Pairing

Most people often don’t think about matching wine to soups as they find pairing liquid to liquid an odd concept. Think about it instead then as matching the wine to the components that make the soup and you’ll find it much easier.

Falanghina is a traditional southern Italian white grape variety that shows myriad flavours and aromas, especially when served lightly chilled rather than cold. There is a subtle sweetness on the palate that lends itself perfectly to vegetables, particularly sweet ones like squash, and the fresh citrus quality helps lift the flavours on the finish. Falanghina has a smooth texture and a delicate hint of spice running through the backbone so if you’re adding cinnamon or nutmeg to your soup it really brings it to the fore. Buy it here.

Equipment You Need For This Recipe

You’ll need a chopping board and the fact that it’s beautiful makes the cooking process so much more enjoyable. A decent sharp knife is a must when it comes to peeling a butternut squash. If you’re planning on having roast butternut soup a decent roasting pan is a good idea. Let’s not forget a good-sized pot to boil the soup in. Most importantly, we need a hand blender to create a silky smooth soup. Just click on the links to view further information about these specially selected products.

The versatility of the humble butternut squash is amazing. Start out simple and later add your own original twists.

Ingredients

15ml (1 tbsp) olive oil

30g (1 oz) butter

1 onion, peeled and chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

900g (2 lbs) butternut, peeled and sliced

900ml (1½ pints) Knorr vegetable or chicken stock

30g (1 oz) chives, washed and roughly chopped

Instructions

Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan, add the onion and garlic and gently sauté.

When the onion has softened after about 5 minutes, add the butternut and stock and stir well. Bring to the boil. Simmer for 25 minutes or until the butternut is soft.

Blend the soup with a hand-held blender or in a food processor.

Season to taste, serve in four bowls and sprinkle with the herbs.

Notes

Serving SuggestionYour favourite type of bread, buttered, will go down a storm.Notes If you’re on Weight Watchers, simply omit the butter and oil and use low-fat cooking spray instead, which will turn the soup into 0 ProPoints! If you’re vegan, omit the butter and add more oil to the recipe instead. If you’re on a low-fat diet, leave out the oil and butter and use low-fat cooking spray.

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I didn’t realise just how easy it was to make home made soup, thanks for this recipe. It looks fab and tastes very impressive for something so simple. I didn’t have any parsley so sprinkled over some coriander and a little black pepper, and served with a small dollop of greek yoghurt.

Just made this recipe i have got to say it is lovely! first time i’ve tryed butternut squash just because i didn’t know what to do with it before i saw this recipe, but very nice i must say.
Looks like i will be having soup for the next few weeks!.

Jacqui: As a general rule I don’t eat food that is more than 3 days old, so I can’t tell you whether the soup is okay or not. As long as you don’t add cream to it I don’t see any reason why you can’t freeze it though!

i am not a cook but being recently been made redundant and being at home all the time i thought i would give this a try believe me its the easiest thing i have ever done and the taste is great the only problem was peeling the buttersquash what a pain

I made this a few weeks ago and it was absolutely delicous! I don’t cook (well unless you include bunging frozen food in the oven that is!) but this was simple to do but had an amazing taste to it. I added a little nutmeg to mine and some fabulous fresh bread (shop bought obviously!). My parents are coming down from London tomorrow to see my little one in his first nativity play and guess what they will be eating for their first course…. butternut squash soup! Thanks for recipe! xxx

just cooked this recipie delicious !!! I put some curry paste in with the onions and garlic what a winter warmer. I also found peeling the butternut squash a pain as well never mind more peelings for my compost bin!!!

Thank you sooo much for this recipe!!! I didnt have anything on my fridge today but butternut squash,onion and garlic! Made the soup and it was lovely…but as I didnt have 900ml of stock (I used chicken stock), I add 300ml of coconut milk. My God, the soup was delicious!! 🙂

One of my two allocated butternut squashes turned out a bit icky and stringy inside, so I substituted it with the same weight in sweet potato – nice! Added a dash of Noilly Prat after sauteing the veg, seemed to lift it. Smidgen of cream & of truffle oil (cheap now at the supermarket) – yum!!

Jacqui (21nov09): If you want to keep the soup a few days in the pan, just bring it to the boil once each day for a couple of minutes to keep it fresh. You may have to add some water to replace what you boil away.
Great recipe. Have added it to my recipe collection for re-use.

Gosh I made this today as I absolutely love butternut squash and was watching a cooking programme which said to roast the pips with some soy sauce…which I did and they turned out well. I was fortunate to find your receipe for soup and made 3 times the amount due to the size of the squash but it turned out really lovely. I will definately try the coconut milk and curry paste. Thank you for sharing this receipe it was truely delicious! I note what people say about peeling the squash but I didn’t find it too bad with a potato peeler.

Giving this soup a try tonight! 🙂
Leaving out the garlic & salt, and using low salt stock so my 7 month old can share it with us. As the squash was hers in the first place and i’ve pinched it to make soup lol.

I’m looking forward to trying this recipe. It sounds so easy, and I need “easy” at the moment as I am heading for chemo again next week for the second time in two years.
I live on soup for part of each cycle, so looking forward to trying this. The reviews say it all!

Never tried squash before so looked through so many recipes … not brave enough to try them though. When I landed on this page and saw all the great comments I headed straight for the kitchen. It is so easy to make and tastes delicious. I added half a chilli as suggested above and used half stock and half coconut milk. Thanks for the recipe, it’s great.

This is indeed a delicious soup. For a bit of variation, I would recommend adding a parsnip. Peel the parsnip. Some parsnips might need their core removing (mine do; I grow my own, but most supermarket ones won’t). Chop it into small pieces, no bigger than 1cm cubes. Add these with the butternut but extend the cooking to 45 minutes. For maximum happiness, make your own stock using the rest of the onion, the butternut peel and the parsnip peel,

HI I FIRST TASTED THIS SOUP IN AMERICA FOUR YEARS AGO AND HAVE NOW TRIED THE APPLE VERSION WITH MY CHILDREN THEY LOVE IT TOMORROW CHRISTMAS DAY AND TRYING IT OUT ON MY NIECE AND NEPHEW I AM SURE THEY WILL LOVE IT TOO

Wonderful! Great photos and wonderful recipe. I have butternut squash in the oven right now…..I’m going to stuff them. I just looked for a quick recipe for my friend and this popped up first in the search engine. I too am from South Africa and now live in the UK. Loving your site and am going to take a squiz at it. Great to see the pro points in there as well. :0)

Have made your soup for the first time and it was delicious. My squash wasn’t big enough so andded some carrots and a little potato. As you suggested I added some spices (5 spice, cinamon and some chilli). Really liked this and for Slimming World it was free! Will try some of the other recipes now, hope they are as good

Thanks you so much for this recipe, Bought some reduced butternut squash determined to make something with them as never had them before. Your recipe was the only one I found that I had everything in for.
I loved it and more importantly, the kids loved it. 10/10 for taste, simplicity and more importantly for me at this time cost.

I tried this recipe, i used fresh ginger instead of garlic and i cooked the onions, butternutsquash and ginger in butter and let them half cook, then added boiled water and simmered. I took some out for my 8 month old girl and she seemed happy with it. I added dried red chilles crushed and added cream and chopped spring onion upon serving. It came out delicious! Thanks for this recipe. 🙂

I’m making it right now as I post a comment and it smells delicious! I agree with you when you say roasting brings out the flavour- I’ve added a pinch of allspice as well. It’s going to be enjoyed with bread and cheese. My two little ones will be having whats left for lunch tomorrow. Thanks for a great recipe!

Hi, I’ve been making your Simple Butternut Squash Soup regularly since 2009 and thought it was high time that I thanked you for this brilliantly simple and delicious recipe that all my family love. I have seen how your blog has grown and it is brilliant. I have just started a blog of my own and am a little bewildered but also excited to start to sharing my recipes.

This is my favourite soup – I make it all the time. In fact I’m pretty sure that it was through searching for a recipe for butternut squash soup that I found Greedy Gourmet. It’s quick and easy to make and delicious – usually just stick to the original simple version.

What a wonderful soup this has been today! I am suffering from ‘homa’, (kiswahili for flu or cold) today and the Kenyan weather isn’t helping. Thundering, breezy, and fits of rain showers every few minutes. I thought of making some kind of soup to soothe my sore throat and temp my palate since I don’t want to eat. I had all I needed on hand in my rural kitchen to make this delightful soup and I’m looking forward to making it again and again. Thanks for making this ill missionary a happy lady again!

Oooh, I miss gem squash. You don’t really find them over here in the UK and if they do, they cost £1 each! Worst of all they’re not in great shape either. I don’t know what kinds of produce are available in USA but any type of squash/pumpkin (with exception to spaghetti squash) will do – go for those with dense flesh. Just use the same weights and you’ll be fine.

I make butternut pumpkin soup two ways with two slightly different flavours. If I do it with roasted pumpkin I have found that the special roasted flavour disappears if the soup is refrigerated or frozen for another day. This is not always true of soup make with other roasted vegs. If I use steamed/microwaved/boiled pumpkin I add a teaspoon of curry paste to give a little zing.

I have never tried butternut squash before and bought it wanting to try it. This was the first recipe I stumbled upon on the net for cooking it and I have to say its the most amazing soup I have ever had. So much better than the processed stuff out of tins and so simple to make. I will definitely be trying more of your recipes and making this soup again with more twists. I added carrot and celery to mine and its mighty fine : D

Hi from a fellow South African – now living in the UK. Tried the roasted version of the soup and it was absolutely delicious! It was the perfect lunch for a snowy Saturday. I also wanted to compliment you on the photos – superb!! You might want to consider photograpy as a sideline career. Kim

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